I had a quick visit back to the area to visit Emma (yes, I had a Nanny/Housekeeper as a kid and she's family to the whole bunch) and help her transition into a nursing facility. She's doing great and soon will celebrate her 98th birthday. My whole family adores here. I also had a chance to celebrate my dear friends Kaeza's birthday with her and a wonderful crowd of folks who enjoyed a concert of Ms. Kaeza Fearn's original works. This pretty lady is talented. I think most folks were truly blown away. It was a special night.

In the short time I’ve been back here in Chicago, I couldn’t imagine this move feeling any more right. I’ve known that Western MA and I were done years ago, but it’s one thing to know when something is wrong, but it takes far more precision to know what is right. I had moved down to South Florida a few years back and quickly realized it wasn’t where I was supposed to be. So I took another year to re-evaluate.

Chicago won the prize. It’s the only major city that’s not chock full of Bikram Yoga. It’s also a great music town; at it’s best in the Blues and Jazz medium. Musically, I can fly myself (and eventually band mates) anywhere in the US very inexpensively. Lastly, I am a straight, single, male. It’s foolish to live in a community that’s predominately about Gay women. You know things aren’t right when most of your close friends are Lesbians and they are telling you to leave.

I’m teaching at 3 great studios here in Chicago and the studio owners seem to be quality folks. Lincoln Park, Wicker Park and River North. Most impressively, the heat and humidity are just what they are supposed to be. It’s supposed to be hot and humid and these studios are just that. I’ve taught in so many studios where the owners have lowered the heat, because they were concerned about their heating costs or they were the kind of folks who just lowered the bar at every turn, but in this arena it doesn’t work. Not only does it cheat the students, but when folks aren’t really challenged physically and spiritually in the realm of Bikram Yoga, they miss that sense of accomplishment that redefines what they once perceived they were capable of. That’s where the real power of this yoga lies. In challenging and re-defining what we “think” we know about what we’re capable of. Forget what you think you know and get in the Hot Room!

On a more practical note, I am enjoying learning the transportation system here. I’ve driven my car maybe a total of 40 miles so far. The Metra trains (transportation to the suburbs and then some) are beautiful and almost frighteningly on time. The CTA system is a bit more challenging (the trains and busses that service the actual city and a bit of the outlying areas) but it just takes time. Learning the system is just about leaving a whole lot of extra time and enjoying the process. This city is very “doable”. I’m loving this town still. I take the Northwest Line into the Oglivie Transportation Center and walk wherever I have to go most of the time. I love walking in cities and this town is no exception. It's really beautiful.